Oncoplastic Breast Conserving Surgery

Breast cancer is a disease fraught with emotion. Not only must a woman grapple with the challenge of surviving this disease, she also has to cope with the impact that breast cancer may have on her self-image and confidence, due to the physical changes to her body.

Therefore, breast conserving surgery (BCS), which removes the cancer and spares the rest of the breast, is the preferred option for most women over mastectomy (total removal of the breast) whenever this choice is available. Oncoplastic breast conserving surgery (OBCS) began as an idea to improve the cosmetic outcomes of BCS, and has since developed into a wide range of techniques that can be applied to many breast cancer patients. These techniques not only treat the cancer, but also help to preserve a woman's self-esteem by working to preserve a part of a woman’s anatomy closely linked with her femininity and sexual identity.

OBCS combines the principles of oncology with plastic surgery to achieve more desirable aesthetic results, while maintaining a low cancer recurrence rate. This form of surgery not only removes cancer-affected breast tissue effectively, but also offers OBCS as an option to some women who would have only been advised mastectomies. This happens when adequate cancer clearance cannot be achieved without removing more than 20% of the breast tissue, as well as for cancers at certain areas of the breast which are susceptible to cosmetic deformities following BCS.